100 Top Tips That Will Make you a Better Youth Sports Coach
Published in
5 min readFeb 7, 2020
100 Things That I Have Learned About Coaching Young Athletes
- Your athletes don’t expect you to be perfect, just passionate.
- Passion is a prerequisite for effective coaching.
- Some of your best coaching ideas come from the kids. Be alert for them.
- Give your athletes a voice — show them that you are ready to listen and act upon it.
- Kids respond to responsibility.
- The best indicator of grassroots coaching success is that the kids want to keep coming back.
- Don’t just go through the motions when conducting a warm up. The warm up is an important part of a session, not just a precursor to it.
- The first 5 minutes of a session are so important.
- Good leaders “walk the talk”.
- Don’t underestimate how observant and perceptive young athletes can be.
- The best way to learn about coaching is by coaching.
- Accreditation is just the start of a coach’s education.
- Learn how to make practice into play. Disguise repetition as play.
- Find out what “fun” means to your athletes.
- Your demeanour is more important than technical knowledge when coaching kids.
- Great coaches are creative.
- Drills and equipment are ok for variety and novelty, but don’t base your program on them.
- Quality coaching should not be reliant on facilities or equipment.
- The goal of youth sport is different to elite sport. Coaches must adjust to this.
- The ability to switch to Plan B, C or D while remaining composed it a vital skill when coaching.
- Sporting success at an early age must be kept in perspective.
- You can encourage and facilitate development, but not rush it.
- A good coach will catch the kids being good.
- Athletes can look great doing drills but still struggle with the full movement.
- Keep a reflective coaching training diary.
- When dealing with kids, the volume of training should not be a coach’s main strategy for improving performance.
- Any increase in an athlete’s training load must be done slowly and in small increments.
- Good coaches know when to step in and also when to step back and allow things to happen during a session.
- The art of coaching includes knowing when to just stand back and keep quiet.
- You don’t have to be talking to be coaching.
- How the coach reacts to mistakes will influence how the athletes react to mistakes.
- Teach kids to treat failure like a speed hump, not a road block.
- Avoid placing performance expectations on a child.
- Many parents want kids to move straight to the advanced stuff. Good coaches are not pressured by this.
- See a skill more than once before trying to provide feedback.
- Build a broad skill base in athletes before getting specific.
- Help young athletes to understand that correction is not criticism.
- Coach kids for gradual ongoing progression rather than for quick results and the risk of earlier drop out.
- Coaches must show leadership when it comes to teaching young athletes about sportsmanship.
- Never underestimate the power of well-timed enthusiastic praise of young athletes.
- Don’t over-use praise. It loses its effect.
- With young athletes, emphasise speed development.
- Knowing your own story will help you develop and understand your coaching identity.
- When coaching, keep everyone within your field of vision.
- Smile a lot and look like you want to be there.
- Face the kids away from the sun when you are speaking with them.
- Keep the big picture in mind; try to look beyond the end of the season.
- Be patient and have a plan.
- Keep your ego in check.
- Don’t measure your success in medals.
- Ask you athletes what they expect from you as their coach.
- Use a questionnaire to help you to determine your approach tom coaching a new athlete.
- You can’t coach everything at one practice. Focus on the top 1–2 priorities, embed those, then add 1–2 things.
- Criticising is not teaching.
- Keep learning and be open-minded.
- Learn from other coaches, from other sports & from outside of sport.
- Coaches who won’t listen to their peers are unlikely to listen to their athletes.
- Find a mentor.
- Read widely.
- Simplicity & clarity are so important when coaching kids.
- One of the keys to coaching kids is to not take yourself too seriously. Make time to laugh & have some fun.
- Yelling is ineffective.
- External coaching cues are more effective than internal coaching cues.
- Coach a skill using only one cue at a time.
- Cues are only as effective as an athlete’s ability to understand and interpret them.
- Analogies are important when coaching kids — develop your repertoire.
- Every coach of young athletes should have access to a set of medicine balls as part of their coaching kit.
- Encourage kids to play sports other than yours.
- Think of yourself as being a link in the chain of an athlete’s lifetime sporting experience.
- Know your role in the development chain.
- The biggest difference between success and failure often comes from mastering the fundamentals. Good athletes perform the fundamentals well. Good coaches focus on teaching the fundamentals.
- Take a “fundamentals first” approach. Don’t bypass the basics.
- Prioritise strength training and the teaching of fundamental movement skills over other forms of development.
- Build up an extensive collection of games, drills and activities that are designed to improve the basics.
- Avoid looking for quick fixes or magic solutions.
- Take a “slow cook” rather than a “fast food” approach to the development of a young athlete.
- Build a positive relationship with the parents. Over-communicate rather than under-communicate.
- Teach kids to love the sport more than the medals.
- Winning is not necessarily a sign of good youth sports coaching.
- All great coaches of young athletes are also great performers.
- Coaches need to be “coachable”.
- Make your program “kid-focused” and “kid-friendly”.
- Make sure that it is about the kids and not about you. Good coaches are athlete-centred, not self-centred.
- A youth sport coaching program must loo different to an elite coaching program. Not just a little bit different, but entirely different.
- For kids to digest feedback, you need their focused attention and engagement.
- Prepare athletes for their sporting future, not just the next competition.
- Talent development does not follow a linear progression. Help parents understand this.
- To best help young athletes prepare for a big sports event, don’t treat it like a big event.
- Develop young athletes so that they can compete well whether you are there or not.
- If training isn’t fun, kids won’t improve.
- Be comfortable with stepping back, letting the kids loose and getting out of their way on “game day”.
- Debrief and review a good performance with as much vigour as you would a poor performance — yours included. The debrief is as important as the plan.
- The best coaching style is one that is genuine to you.
- Don’t be afraid to alter an athlete’s faulty technique, even at the risk of short-term performance decline.
- Ask kids what they most enjoyed about your coaching session. It is invaluable and may surprise you.
- Ask the athletes what they learned and where they improved during a session. Remind them of this a the beginning of the next session.
- Be clear about your purpose as a coach.
- Document your coaching standards and beliefs in a way that can be clearly articulated.
- You need to develop a strong coaching philosophy.
- Communicate your philosophy and ensure your coaching reflects this philosophy.